Toy facial feature-forming attachment



TOY FACIAL FEATURE-FORMING ATTACHMENT Filed Aug. 8, 1960 INVENTOR.

050%? lee/5s United States Patent Oflice 31355563 Patented Nov. 27, 19623,065,563 THY FACIAL FEATURE-FGRMHIQG ATTACHMENT (Pscar Reiss, KingsPoint, N.Y., assignor to ideal Toy Corporation, Hollis, N.Y., acorporation of New York Filed Aug. 8, 19m, Ser. No. 48,0?94 2 Claims.(El. 46-158) The present invention relates generally to the manufactureof stufied toys, and relates specifically to an attachment for providingthe facial features of a stuffed toy.

In the manufacture of stuffed toy animals of the type exemplified by thewell known teddy bear, it is necessary to provide means to reproduce thefacial characters of the animals. In the past, the general practice wasto form the lips of the animal by hand embroidery on the preformed faceand then to similarly form a bridging member extending upwardly from thelips to the location of the nose. At the top of the bridging member afelt, or other material, nose was secured to the face of the toy by useof an adhesive. If a tongue was to be provided it would be either sewnor glued to the embroidered lips. This process produced reasonablysatisfactory one dimensional facial characteristics, however, it leftmuch to be desired as far as actually simulating the features of thereproduced animal. Furthermore, the employment of hand embroideryoperations and the individual securements of various facial elementsonto the suffed toy is a time consuming and relatively expensivemanufacturing operation. Obviously, such hand operations involve highlabor costs which are not consistent with modern mass productiontechniques. Furthermore, the resulting flat appearance of the producedfacial characters, while being adeqate for their purpose, were lessdesirable than a three dimensional representation of those facialfeatures.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a facialfeature-forming attachment which will obviate one or more of the abovedisadvantages. Specifically, it is the object of the present inventionto provide a facial feature-forming attachment which will impartthree-dimensional facial characteristics to stuffed toys.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a facialattachment for toy animals which will produce three-dimensional facialfeatures thereon Without the requirements for hand labor and thereforeat a relatively low cost.

It is a further feature of the present invention to provide a one piecefacial feature-forming attachment adapted to be applied to the face ofstuffed toy animals such that the nose, lips and tongue of the animalswill be applied in one operation.

In accordance with an illustrative embodiment demonstrating features ofthe present invention there is provided a feature-forming attachmentadapted for use on the face of a stuffed toy. The attachment comprises athree dimensional body having a plurality of facial charactersintegrally formed therein. These facial characteristics include aprotruding nose, and a lip-forming member below the nose which extendsin opposite direction therefrom on the face of the toy. An uprightbridging member is provided between the nose and the central portion ofthe lip-forming member and is integrally connected thereto.Advantageously, a tongue may be integrally formed of the same materialdepending from the lip-forming member. The feature-forming attachment isadapted to be secured to the face of the toy at the rear portion of thenose, the bridging member and the lipforming member such that theattachment is securely positioned in place with the depending tonguebeing free from attachment to the toy face with the exception of thepoint where it is attached to the lip-forming member.

The above brief description, as well as further objects,

features and advantages of the present invention will be best understoodby reference to the following detailed description when taken inconjunction with the following drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a stuffed toy bear incorporating afeature-forming attachment according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the facial feature-forming attachmentshown illustrated on the toy bear of FIG. 1; and,

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1 andlooking in the direction of the arrows illustrating the adhesiveattachment of the feature-forming attachment to the face of the stuffedtoy animal.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1 astuffed toy bear generally designated by the numeral 16. The toy bear itis provided with the conventional fabric skin 1'2; which is stuffed inthe appropriate manner with suitable stuffing materials. The particularillustrative stuffed toy illustrated is provided with trousers l4 and abelt 16, it being understood that the present invention may be practicedon virtually any form of stuffed toy, the stuffed bear lit being merelyillustrative. The head 18 of the toy bear Kit is provided with a snoutportion 2% of a different color from the remainder of the head 13 fromwhich it protrudes outwardly. Appropriate ears 22 are provided at thetop portion of the head and the eyes 24 are secured to the head 18 bymeans of Tinnerman clips or other means well known to those skilled inthe art.

At the forward end of the snout 20 there is secured the facialfeature-forming attachment generally designated by the numeral 26. Thefacial feature-forming attachment 26 is comprised of a protruding nose28, an upright bridging member Ell, an extending lip-forming member 32,and a depending tongue 34. The nose 2% includes a protruding frontsurface 36 and a recessed rear surface 38 as may be best seen in FIG. 3.It should be noted that the rear surface of the nose 28 may be formed inany shape which affords ease of securemcnt to the snout 20. the recess38 being effective for securing the attachment 26 by means of anadhesive as will be described below. Depending from the lower point ofthe protruding nose 28 is the bridging member 3i) which is integrallyformed with the nose 2'8 and extends vertically downward therefrom. Thebridging member 30 serves to reproduce the philtrum of the animal. Atits lower end, the upright bridging member 30 joins with the lip-formingmember 32. The lip-forming member 32 includes two individual arms 32aand 32b which extends in opposite directions outwardly from the bridgingmember 3i In the facial feature-forming attachment 36 illustrated in thedrawings, the lip-forming member 3'2 is formed such that its individualarm 32a, 32b extend outwardly and slightly downwardly from the centerline of the attachment 26.

Depending downwardly from the central portion of the lip-forming member32 there is positioned the tongue 34 which may be rounded in shape andformed with a central line. A spot of red paint or other coloring, suchas shown at 34a, may be applied to the front surface of the tongue 34 toimpart a pleasing color thereto. The tongue 34 is an integral part ofthe facial feature-forming attachment 26 and depends downwardly alongthe central axis of the attachment 26. Of course, it should beappreciated that the present invention may be practiced by placing thedepending tongue 34 at any position along the lip-forming member 32.

The one piece feature'forming attachment 26 may be secured to the snout20 of the stuffed toy 10 by a variety of differing securement methods.'In the illustrative embodiment it) shown herein the attachment 26 issecured to the snout 20 of the toy bear 10 by means of aoeaaee anadhesive 49. As best seen in FIG. 3, a frontal portion 20a of the snout29 protrudes outwardly from the facial surface of the toy bear 10. Thisoutward protrusion 20a is intimately received within the recessed rearsurface 38 of the protruding nose 28 of the attachment 26. It has beenfound that a highly successful adhesive for this application is BoxerLiquid Plastic, Type No. 500,'manufactured by the Union Laboratories,Inc. of Morganville, N. J. The adhesive 48 is applied at the contactareas of the feature-forming attachment 26, i.e., the recessed rearsurface 38 of the nose 28, the upright bridge member 38 and thelip-forming member 32 Where they contact the surface of the snout 20 ofthe face of the toy bear 7.0. As seen in PEG. 3, depending tongue 34 isnot secured to the snout 20 and depends freely from the lipformingmember 32 thereby giving the appearance of a tongue naturally protrudingfrom the mouth of the stuffed toy.

The facial feature-forming attachment 26 may be also secured to the faceof the stuffed toy bear 10 by other attachment means such as byTinnerrnan clips or the like or by any one of the securement means wellknown to those skilled in the art. In this regard, it should beappreciated that the protruding nose 28 may be formed of a solid pieceof plastic or the like material such that a recessed rear surface, suchas shown at 38, is not provided. In such an instance the protruding nose28 would be directly attached by an adhesive, a clip or other device tothe snout 20 of the sub-toy bear 10 without the requirement for thesnout protrusion 26a.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated there is pro vided inaccordance with the present invention a onepiece feature-formingattachment which is effective to contribute three dimensional facialcharacteristics to a stuffed toy animal. The relatively low expenseinvolved in the manufacturing and use of a unitary facial featureattachment of a molded plastic material or the like will be bestappreciated by a consideration of the manufacturing operations which areeliminated by the use of a one-piece attachment secured to the face of atoy stuffed animal as compared with the heretofore employed handoperations wherein a lip, a bridging member, and a nose wereindividually formed by embroidery and gluing operations. Furthermore, byuse of the present invention a depending tongue is provided which would,if incorporated into the heretofore facial forming mean require a stillfurther step for the manufacture of a stuffed toy. The present inventionprovides an attractive and efficient means to impart facialcharacteristics to stuffed toy animals at relatively low expense.

A latitude of modification, substitution and change is intended in theforegoing disclosure and in some instances sorne features of theinvention will be used without a use of other corresponding features.Accordingly, the claims herein should be construed broadly and in amanner consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention.

Whati claim is:

1. The combination with a stuffed toy of the type including a fabricskin having a face panel of a three-dirncnsional feature-forming bodyfabricated of plastic and overlying said face panel, saidfeature-forming body having a plurality of integral facialcharacteristics including a protruding nose, oppositely extending lipportions cooperating to define a lip and disposed below said nose, and abridge simulating the philtrum and joining said tip to said nose, saidnose having a recess in the back surface thereof receiving a protrudingportion of said face panel, and adhesive means securing at least saidprotruding portion of said face panel within said recess and said lip tosaid face panel to attach said featureforrning body to said face panel.

2. The combination with a. stuffed toy of the type including a fabricskin having a face panel of a three-dimensional feature-forming bodyfabricated of plastic and overlying said face panel, saidfeature-forming body having a plurality of integral facialcharacteristics including a protruding nose, oppositely extending lipportions cooperating to define a lip and disposed below said nose, abridge simulating the philtrum and joining said lip to said nose, and atongue connected to said lip and projecting therefrom, said nose havinga recess in the back surface thereof receiving a protruding portion ofsaid face panel, and adhesive means securing at least said protrudingportion of said face panel within said recess and said lip to said facepanel to attach said feature-forming body to said face panel except forsaid tongue.

References Cited in the file of this patent 'UNITED STATES ZATENTS1,289,715 Fellom Dec. 31, 1918 1,478,348 Myers Dec. 18, 1923 1,916,811Schwartz July 4, 1933 2,098,656 Gerling Nov. 9, 1937 2,331,776 HeggedalOct. 12, 1943 2,538,157 Lewis Jan. 16, 1951

